Edgy MD

Each of 'em getting three days in four until one of them inevitably gets hurt or plays himself out of the lineup works fine for me. Giving EY a start at second against an upcoming lefty might be fun too!

Yeah, I'm just offering the philosophy he espoused in the booth. For all I know, he swung like a maniac on 3-0 pitches.

Nobody was more in favor of taking 3-0 than Ralph. It wasn't Moneyball with him, of course. He just figured that he's going to see the same pitch twice, so he might as well (a) force the pitcher to throw it over the plate twice, and ( get a good look at it the first time before cutting loose the second.

Oh, I think the fan dismay thing is probably true (easier than ever to express displeasure thru social media) though it has less to do with Alderson specifically than it does with the events that preceded him and defined his term. Maybe, but by the same token ("easier to express displeasure thru social media"), then, virtually every team would therefore be absorbing more vitriol than ever before. To some extent, it would appear even before you adjust for a team's current success rate. I've heard such comments often enough, but emotionally, most of us tend to live in the present. This is the guy who broke the Tony Bernazard story, and ended up in the middle of it. That was a pretty diseased little cesspool of fan antipathy going on then. Eleven years ago the Mets were limping home in 2003 with Art Howe and Mike Glavine and Jay Bell. Attendance fell off 17%. It fell off 22% following the second collapse of 2008, despite a new stadium. It's actually modestly rebounded so far this season, relative to the league. Maybe it is true, but a guy reporting that negativity is at an all-time high while projecting his own negativity is not to be trusted. And yeah, making that negativity about Alderson is missing the story almost entirely.

Is it already noted that Apu is not just a Metropolitan fan on the show, but also in real life?

I�ve covered this team for a dozen seasons as the beat writer, and I have never seen this level of combined anger, distrust, frustration and dismay directed collectively at the organization by its fans. We need an index on this sort of thing. The "worst ever" statements are used too liberally, often with an intention of creating the atmosphere one purports to describe.

Finding a way to reconcile the solid starting rotation they have with the solid-or-better options coming, while rehabbing solid Hefner and excellent Harvey --- it's probably the challenge of the season. And while most may have an opinion on the best way to do this, nobody really knows. The better question may be: "Who will be in the rotation on September 30?"

"Thinks he's smarter than everybody" is what you write about somebody you resent because you know he's smarter than you. How petty.

It may not come to pass forthwith, but I think Lagares does have power potential. He's got upper-body strength, maybe as much as anybody other than Recker. Clearly that's only one factor in slugging the ball out, but it's there.

My friend is a Pirates fan, the sort who goes to spring training every year. One year he meets one of these two Indian prospects in a sports bar, and they hit it off. Tim returns home and is surprised to find the guy turning to him as a confidante, corresponding with him as a smart fan who hopefully will give him a more nuanced view of the culture of the game than he's getting from his teammates and coaches, who all seem nice, but don't seem to be telling him the whole story. is honored. He tries to tell the guy what to expect. He finds it funny to hear his new friend straight-facedly using cliches he picked up from his teammates, like "I'm living the dream." "Is this really your 'dream'?" my buddy asks. "You just stumbled into a sport you never played before." But obviously, making big on any opportunity can be a dream to a guy from India. Then as time goes on, and injuries mount, my friend starts to realize that the team would likely have released his friend by now, but were probably hanging on until the film came out. Then he starts feeling guilty, as he starts to realize he's just another one in the circle of people not telling the prospect the whole truth. Anyhow, Tom McCarthy hasn't missed yet as a filmmaker or writer, but he's just the writer on this, and since it's seemingly more of a work-for-hire than his own baby, I suspect his winning streak isn't going to survive. Besides, the protagonist here is a sleazy sports agent. And with Jerry McGuire, the world may only have room for one film in which a sleazy sports agent finds redemption.

Mets have gone thus far using only five starters. According to Studious Metsimus, the Mets haven't gone this long without using a sixth starter since 2010, and this season is, in fact, the team's 10th-longest run with five starters from opening day. But when I say, "thus far," it may be "thus far and no further," for Terry has strongly intimated that he isn't buying Jenrry Mejia's act as it stands. Alderson is as silent as the Sphinx. Please click your pick above, but feel free to openly speculate on the Mets' pick.

That was a jaw-dropping column to read this morning.

Good job, folks. Funny, I had never considered that the Ferrels were brothers, even as I knew they played together.

Can you think of any others? I always had trouble accepting that the two Vukoviches on the 1980 Phils being unrelated.

Yesterday I was asked to sign a Mother's Day card for Michelle Obama. I'm telling you, "' 'Sign' this stupid made-for-social-media thing which then gets launched from your account out to your friends" is absolutely the current wave of marketing.

The White Sox have this sort of fraternal setup, and have since 2012, with John and Jordan Danks. I'm trying to think of how often this has happened. The Royals briefly had it when Ken Brett joined them at the end of his career. And then I realized, the Mets briefly had this roster oddity too.

Gary and Ron had an inning long conversation about fans waiting on line for an inning (or more) at Shakey Shacky.

Now that the most recent monkey is off the team's back, I have to say, I couldn't help linking their play this last week to "Real New Yorkers" hullabaloo, as little sense as it that might make.

This isn't how it was supposed to turn out, Wild Thing.

Flores was too sick to play. Explains why Granderson and d'Arnaud were sent up to pinch-hit over him. Duda needs to stop kissing everybody.

Yeah, too much is made of LoB, and enough is made of the ratio of LoB:RS. I think part of it can be patience, but there's enough hidden value in patience that I can put up with that. The whiffing, however, can't continue. I want their next day off to be one long squeeze bunt clinic. Amazing to see EY make this game a showcase for his skills, such as they are. He may not be great, but he's the best him there is.

Frayed Knot wrote: Rubern & EYJ making a case for getting their jobs back. Good for them, competition can be a wonderful thing! Flashing back 30-plus years to the day Darryl Strawberry and Tucker Ashford took over for Danny Heep and Hubie Brooks. Heep and Brooks turned out to be heroes in extra innings.

I had no idea what the Rube sounded like. Love the Rube!

Five innings and one run for the pen. I'll takey.

That's the way it's done. Build on this.